Chapter 65: Drooling with Hunger

The clouds grew thicker, as if pressing directly on top of people’s heads.

The sky was utterly dark, as if it could plunge into night at any moment.

Raindrops the size of soybeans pattered down violently; the driver whipped the horses furiously, the carriage racing through the rain, splashing up puddles, and crashing into the county yamen.

Yan Lao didn’t bother with an umbrella—he leapt out and shouted, “Great misfortune!”

“Great misfortune!”

Song Lu stood beneath the eaves, hand on his sword, puzzled: “The yamen holds imperial talismans—supernatural entities dare not intrude. Why is Yan Lao so panicked?”

Yan Lao had already rushed inside to find Ma Tianshou.

Song Lu was about to follow when he noticed the puddles on the ground strangely reversing flow from the corner drain, gradually rising and forming into the shape of a three-year-old child before his eyes in the courtyard.

The child hung his head slightly, back turned to Song Lu.

Water beneath him surged backward; rain no longer drained away but instead channeled more rainwater from outside into the yamen.

Unconsciously, the water inside the yamen had risen to a foot deep—more than double the level on the streets outside!

Water along the yamen’s perimeter lifted unnaturally, as if an invisible dam encircled the entire compound.

And the drains continued pumping water inward—the surface level inside the yamen kept rising rapidly.

Song Lu’s eyes widened in shock: “What kind of supernatural entity can enter the yamen…?”

The child floated atop the water, motionless, the current beneath his feet twisting slowly toward Song Lu.

The instant he saw the child’s face, Song Lu’s mind went blank, his pupils dilated and vacant, his body stiffening.

In the courtyard, five other ordinary Captains of the Purification Office stood frozen.

At the gate, the county official and his four trusted Yamen Runners guarded the entrance.

All of them were just like Song Lu.

The child bore clear local ethnic features; in the dim light, shadows fell heavily over his features, and his eyes seemed to hold all the resentment and hatred the world could contain!

Moments later, Song Lu and the others regained focus, their consciousness returning—but all that remained was one thought: Hunger!

An overwhelming hunger surged from their bellies, striking their brains, drowning out every other impulse.

Song Lu, like a starving wolf in the mountains, his eyes glowing faintly green, mechanically and swiftly turned his neck, searching for something to eat—and instantly realized: Nothing was inedible!

The county official and his four Yamen Runners were already tearing at each other; the official bit off one runner’s ear and crunched it in his mouth, utterly unaware that another runner had already torn a large chunk of flesh from his shoulder.

One of the other Purification Office Captains lunged at the front pillar and began gnawing at it like a rat chewing a cabinet leg, rapidly crunching away.

Wood chips flew; soon his mouth was full of blood, his front teeth shattered, yet he felt nothing and kept devouring fiercely.

Others pulled bricks from the walls and shoved them whole into their mouths; some dug up ant nests from the base of the walls and ate the dirt, water, and insects without hesitation!

Song Lu suddenly raised his own hands, staring at his ten fingers—pale, slender, looking delicious.

Song Lu shoved his fingers into his mouth and began chewing them, one by one!

Crunch, crunch, crunch—crisp, so delicious!

Soon all five fingers of his right hand were gone, leaving only a bare palm.

Suddenly, a calligraphy scroll flew in from the back courtyard, unfurling in the wind and rain, revealing a fierce, sharp character: “Thunder.”

…Too bad it was followed by another character: “Sound.”

It was “Thunder Sound,” not “Thunder.”

“Boom!”

A thunderclap exploded—but no lightning flashed through the rain.

The people in the courtyard suddenly regained clarity; Song Lu’s eyes widened again in horror, because her right hand was still stuffed in her mouth, chewing, her mouth full of blood!

“Ahh—” Screams erupted everywhere; the Yamen Runners and Captains writhed in agony.

The sorcery broken, the child’s eyes turned hatred into hundreds of thick, shadowy hands that suddenly burst forth from his pupils!

Simultaneously, he snapped his jaws wide.

Boom—

Shadowy energy surged, darkening the sky further.

His mouth widened impossibly, swallowing half the building!

Inside his mouth: hundreds of sharp fangs, a vast vortex of shadow energy, a two-zhang-long monstrous tongue, bristling with barbs like a venomous dragon.

Song Lu flew backward, her back smashing through a window into the room—the giant mouth snapped shut, biting off half the entire house!

Walls, roof, beams, furniture—all shattered instantly; three Captains vanished into the maw.

Song Lu screamed as she desperately retreated, but one calf was still bitten clean off by the giant mouth!

Shadow energy swirled around the wound—blood refused to flow out.

The shadow rapidly crept upward; Song Lu gritted her teeth, drew her blade with her left hand, and severed her leg below the knee.

Then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted from pain.

“Sister!” Fu Jingyu rushed in, scooping up Song Lu, his face filled with concern and panic.

The three-year-old child still stood in the courtyard, his mouth returned to normal size; his throat moved as he swallowed everything he’d just devoured.

Torrential rain poured down; the child was drenched in chilling shadow, his eyes brimming with hatred that sent chills through all who saw them.

Yan Lao and Ma Tianshou emerged from behind, staring at the supernatural child; Yan Lao gasped: “Have our imperial talismans failed?”

“What on earth is this thing?!”

Ma Tianshou flipped his hands, pulling out an inkstone and grinding stone, using the rainwater to grind ink.

Black ink dripped, swiftly staining all the surrounding puddles.

He took out his brush and swept it through the water.

A wave of ink surged, striking the three-year-old child.

The child, about to open his mouth again, staggered backward three steps from the impact, glaring at them all with hatred.

Ma Tianshou said: “It’s the ancient deity of Jiaozhi—Fu Dong Tianwang.”

“Our dynasty conquered Jiaozhi, opened the canal here, stripped Fu Dong Tianwang of his divine status; for over a hundred years he vanished—yet now he’s become a supernatural entity!”

Ma Tianshou’s face was grim; this entity had sealed off the entire yamen. His earlier strike had been meant to wrest control of the yamen’s territory from the entity.

Yet it had only forced the entity back three steps—this situation was truly dire!

“But… who summoned this thing?!”

“And why is it unaffected by our imperial talismans?”

The child had steadied himself, slowly lifting his head, his hateful eyes fixed on them all.

Yan Lao’s counting hand froze—his hunger shattered his concentration.

The unconscious Song Lu suddenly “woke up” from hunger!

Fu Jingyu looked at his sister in his arms, drooling with hunger!

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(End of Chapter)